European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 1, 1953, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By John Welsh i wartime editor Pup tent poets have to be a famous War n Soldier poet to have your poems deposited for posterity in the Library of in the Library at present Are three sections of poetry which servicemen submitted to the Pup tent poets column of the stars and stripes Mediterranean edition during the last the space occupied by these Manu scripts is second in size Only to the Valu Able Lincoln for almost three it was any Job to edit and publish service some of it was by any but unlike newspapers n the we printed what we received without placing too much emphasis on Natu we received an abundance of really bad poems along with the the mail received by the Pup tent poets column contained up to 300 poetic contribution Only a fraction of these poems could be due to space some selected for publication had to be edited Down to keep within the maximum 20line limit subject matter for the poems was Catho Lic from odes to old army shoes to son nets in Praise of the infinite Beauty of a Michelangelo regardless of wobbly which sometimes was brushed up a poems selected for Pup tent poets finally found their Way to print the stars and in All its various Mediterranean editions from 1942 to published approximately out what to do with the poems after pub cation became a real Jub listed and unpublished poetry began to collect in the we could not return submitted material to the sender that would have required a staff of a few Hundred we Send Back acknowledgement and quite often a few lines of encouragement to the even after our office was flooded with All kinds of we still did not want to destroy any of we it would be of real a Hasty letter to the head librarian at the Library of Congress solved our the Library welcomed the service verse with opened week after bundles of poetry were forwarded from the Mediterranean to some historian in the future going through these papers will be Able to know All about the pains and humor of the yank at War in the what  historians give if such a collection existed revealed the same about Caesars or the men who fought with Napoleon or George Washington this tremendous response to poetry wartime was not the result of a great emotional upheaval within the poet self nor did the poetry written describe great moments in our after the very bloody Battie of Pup tent poets received Only one poem worthy of american holocaust that when the tide of Battle turned in our Al Huettar and so we meet again at Al Huettar from Thala where we sent you reeling now once again youll feel our furious might and shrink before the steel of our for wrongs still a avenged and rights denied a bloody reckoning be yours to youll curse the Dawn and dread the darkening and fear shall make the very winds be in one a printed poem saved the life of a Young infantry lieutenant on the Day he was scheduled to Lead a patrol into the Hills around a poem written by the lieutenant appeared in Pup tent the upon see ing the was amazed to find such Talent in his he called the lieutenant into his tent and immediately gave him a desk that the group the lieutenant was to have Lead was the patrol was completely wiped i owe my wrote the to Tup tent since almost every worthy poem sub matted appeared in Crafty soldiers were tempted to borrow a sign his name to and sit Back to await re several we were caught in the for there seemed to be no Way to Stop this piracy until we printed a plagiarized poem with a Tongue Incheck saying this sonnet originally was written by pfc William but Jack Jones says its so Here it is piracy from the classics stopped overnight often a Good who was familiar with had read poetry in civilian knew meter and seeing a bad poem in the column was incensed enough to better it was through these verifiers that tent poets gradually gained stature and importance As a daily feature in All editions of the stars and from All this vast wealth of creative no really great War poet was had anyone been destined to claim that i feel cer Tain that he would have been a Sandy haired sergeant named Peter who wrote the following mine layers is through nights of slanting rain marchers Are planting pain gardeners in boots Plant tender seeds of mines where the dimmed flashlight nursing the hiding the boys in Green raincoats scamper where grass will soon be Damper with sudden Ripe the pain grows High sudden into the Newtown the new crop earths Newtown less than three years after this poem How a history proves Soi at Smith College in won the pulitzer prize for if Pup tent poets did not help to bring to Light any other great american Soldier poet of this at least the column can compliment itself for fostering a Broad and Liberal our standards May not have been academically but we did insist on a poom being clean enough to allow an army nurse or a wac to read it without the Serviceman free to write what he heard or in the years to the historians can find recorded in verse the perfect picture the likes and dislikes of a fighting army Here Are examples on seeing a Drunken do face with a buc toothed Gal when gis get Woozie they aint very Leonard bumps a sweater lass i chanced to smiled Sweet i stopped to question a name abreast one Side her Chest was writ with Good in letters embroidered she her if my is what do you Call the other Bill respectfully suggested a happier its one of my of answering All of our is to Cut apart some second and pass them John postscript two things ii this Winter As i shiver in my Are your cold feet implanted in the Middle of my sgt Gray the War makes men and other assorted products when War is they notify the army Means to Ungi after All this rough Well need civilian Basic i never thought they undermine me so bad that now they have to find me i have to be repatriated before in reunited stated Henry Little bankroll Little Ere we part let me press you to my All the month i worked for saved and and Little in a Day you and i will go away to some Gay and festive ill return but you will the original version of dirty Gertie from published by differed slightly from the verse reprinted in the stars Ever City visited revealed another sister of dirty there was Fanny of Trapani and Marie of but luscious Lena really captured the imaginations of two Young they added Lena to the growing roster with great luscious Lena luscious Lena from cutest thing youve Ever Seena All the i Queena that skin of sultry Sheena when you go into she will drink from your canteen she wont sock you on the but will purr like a when you walk through Fields so with this luscious she will say no hard to keep this ending Fred Floyd Cpl Robert who served with f line company As a had a deep understanding of Here is a poem which captures a feeling any in Europe at Christmas will Long a Emeil Ber Christmas every Day your so gaily wrapped recall a thousand scenes from former Mas seasons the Well stocked the throngs t All in festive quite unconcerned reasons the Christmas their coloured aglow the wreaths and further the childlike urge know the contents of the Odd shaped Gss it seems a shame to open them so with scenes so far removed from All this id like to save but there is not room spread they will much longer last i mean the wrappings to Gay the Washerwoman come Christ mat r in wac sgt Shirley Cowcer caught the and the Long suffering natives of Southern Italy in her she described the degradation and degeneration of total War on sgt colkers poems on Young teenage prostitutes had much to do with lessening the venereal rate among soldiers in Branch and Arm of service eventually was represented by its own partic ular poet who became a regular contributor to Pup tent poet flight officer Doug Wallace reflected the South and Young ideals of the air Force Cpl Anthony an trusted living in Italy amid both antique and modern ruins sgt Roland de Mun Brun and pvt Frederick de la Ronde cried the plight of the slogging foot Soldier who was forced to live in Raia and f if de la Ronde submitted his first j writing these Are the first such verses that the War has brought out of me for better or it is my Hope to have t Hundred or so of them published in the states under tha title of fours in they Are quite plainly the verse of a Man while carrying out his part of the War in Olive shortly after having written this letter i de la Ronde was fulfilling his last i we printed his poems under Flat title he had this was one hit i quatrains i souvenirs in the Meadow break not the Crocus underneath the soldiers Boot of mire and the Crocus is loves souvenir of what was mine but i Hope time will prove me wrong in stat ing that the vast majority full the verses published in Pup tent Poe top was not real few of the poets who originally appears in column Are remembered in Anexy As voices world War of then the efforts of those who these soldiers to write will be amply re Pup tent poets deliberately encourage lonely servicemen to write were not searching or the great epic poet of our As a release and Means of our columns were open perhaps writing comes easy because off j has much time for reflection and analysis in the Long no Arff of waiting for something to t cold night when sleep is tvs plenty of Opportunity to look i perhaps an men Are essential Fly j poets at j the stars and stripes is read Tivai t in Patent As a feature in the j itary news readers Are invited to Send their terse Pup tent poets the stars Apo contrib Tibbs will be Given careful 5 Side ration and As Many will be possible consistent with the Merit of it verse submitted and with space available columns of the military news the editors Reserve the right a minor changes and corrections Anil that authors retain copies of their sol works As manuscripts cannot be j Xii the stars and stripes feature Section